Freely you have received; freely give. Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts — no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff. Matthew 10:8b-10a
“God of generosity, may we emulate you in passing on to others a portion of the gifts you have given to us. In giving we experience Advent joy; in giving we are true to our being made in the image and likeness of you. Keep greed far from our hearts, Lord. Help us to experience the graced poverty of being open to your coming.”
Robert F. Morneau in Waiting in Joyful Hope: Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas 2016-17 (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2016) 19.
Our neighbor, Carol Sharp, whose faith it’s been our joy to encourage, blessed us this weekend with this prayer from her Advent devotional. Rather than keep the blessing to ourselves, we are sharing it freely and widely as today’s meditation. It’s beautiful!
Notice the posture it invites us to take before our generous God. It’s a posture of “graced poverty” which reflects dependence with anticipation. We are so confident that our Lord will care for us that we obey His instructions to “travel light” through life as we live our lives in mission: freely receiving and freely giving.
We also ask Him to help us avoid the desire for things (a.k.a. greed), so that our dependence remains fixed on Him. That’s what “graced poverty” is all about. Since our God is generous and each of us in made in God’s image, let’s reflect His generosity to the world this Advent.